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No. 5625: Sloth

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Sloth

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Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/garfield/?comic=5625

Strip by: KahnerC

Jon: Hi, there... I'm Jon Arbuckle. I'm a cartoonist, and this is my cat, Garfield.
Garfield: Hi, there. I'm Garfield. I'm a cat, and this is my cartoonist, Jon.
Jon: Our only thought is to entertain you.
Garfield: Feed me.

The author writes:

Some would believe that Garfield's existence as a lazy and humourless strip is a recent development. Right here, December 1979, less than a year and a half in, Jim Davis decides that he cannot come up with a better punchline than having Garfield and Jon make silly faces for his Saturday audience. This shouldn't even be a treat to the viewer. These are all expressions that two reasonably animated comic strip characters should be making across their daily adventures, ideally with text and jokes.

Then we get to the photo booth at the end. It isn't amusing to look at. The fact that these four pictures were in fact taken at a photo booth does not add to the joke. The pricing information means less today than it did forty-five years ago, and exists only to answer the absolutely unnecessary question of why there were exactly four preceding panels. As a twist ending, it simply holds no weight. The context could have been given as a sassy Garfield comment, or Jim could have really committed with two extra half-panels. Instead we get this absolutely wasted real estate.

Original strips: 1978-06-19, 1979-12-15, 2015-02-02.